Happy summer everyone! June has been an eventful month for the Stelmaszek family. We have partnered with Greenhouse Church to launch a new campus at a brand new homeless center, Grace Marketplace. Brett traveled to Cape Coral to meet with friends to update them on his trip to South Africa. We have also spent the month in prayer about the next steps moving forward now that Brett is back from his trip.

Grace Marketplace has been a tremendous experience to be a part of. It is the old Gainesville Correctional Institute that the city bought and transformed into a homeless center to provide valuable resources to the homeless population. Greenhouse Church has been able to hold services on Sunday in the chapel that is on the property. We are excited to be a part of the initial launch team and to see how quickly and powerfully God has been working in the four short weekends we have been there. We are currently thinking about other ways we can assist the center such as partnering with them to enhance their community garden. We are incredibly blessed to be a part of this opportunity.

Brett’s visit to Cape Coral included meeting several friends and supporters to give them an update on our ministry and to hear about everything that is going on in their lives. It was refreshing to be able to see everyone again, and we are really looking forward to speaking at First Assembly West in September, and making that trip as a family. As a bonus to his trip, Brett got to preach at the youth group his first night and also voluntarily sleep deprived himself at the youth lock-in.

As far as moving forward, we have been praying quite a bit since Brett has gotten back from South Africa. We have decided that now is probably the best time to start traveling and itinerating at churches, especially since Judah is nearly perfect in health and Sydney can take care of the boys by herself. Please pray with us that we will find favor with churches that we reach out to. Also, if you believe that your home church would be interested in having us share about our ministry, please let us know! We are grateful for any connections that we can receive.

For those of you we will not be seeing in person in the near future, we are putting together a special email full of photos from Brett’s time in South Africa.

We are thankful for everyone who has taken the time to pray for us and to hear about what we will be doing in South Africa. We treasure prayer above all else and know that it is not without sacrifice that you pray for us. Thank you again. God bless.

Brett and Ross have returned from their trip to South Africa, and despite some jet lag from the 6 hour time difference, they are refreshed from their experiences on the trip. We want to give you a brief overview of the trip in this newsletter, but hope to share more of the details in person with all of you.

The primary purpose of this trip was for Brett to connect with the people, pastors, and vision of Life Church. The time there served to reconfirm our call and commitment to serve at Life Church Pretoria. We are more excited than ever to begin working with Life Church and ministering to the people of Pretoria.

Brett and Ross attended a couple of Sunday services at Life Church and got to meet some of the amazing people who make up the church there. They also had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with the staff at Life Church Cape Town, the mother church to Pretoria.

In Cape Town, they got to see and hear the vision of Life Church being a cell based church and how they use their cell groups to impact the community. They met with several staff during their time there and were able to get a deeper understanding of the church’s purpose, vision, and mission. The staff at Cape Town is from all different nations, such as Australia, America, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. It was encouraging to see the diversity of God’s kingdom all working in the same place for the same purpose.

They were also able to visit some of the work that Life Church is doing in the squatter camps. They visited several crèches (daycares) and saw the work that is being done through Life Child. Life Child is able to provide food and education for preschool children during the day. Many of the parents in these communities cannot find work and the services Life Child provides are incredibly valuable. For more information about the work that is being done with Life Child you can visit their website: Life Child.

These are just a few of the things that happened on their trip. Unfortunately we can’t share all of the experiences in this newsletter or show you the pictures that they took. However, the summary of the entire experience is this: We absolutely cannot wait until we’re over in Pretoria serving God at Life Church. We’re incredibly excited to continue working towards getting to South Africa. We are also tremendously thankful for all your support, in prayer, wisdom, and finances. God bless.

Brett and Ross are incredibly excited and expecting God to move in their upcoming trip to South Africa. It is only 3 days away before they get on their first plane for their 35 hour trip to the airport in Johannesburg. During this trip, we have several needs that we would like you all to pray for.

What we would love for you all to cover in prayer is:

Safety for Ross and Brett

Sydney to thrive with Isaac and Judah

Financial provision

Ross and Brett would be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants to do through them

Greater vision and guidance for our long term stay in South Africa

Ross and Brett would be faithful witnesses of the Gospel to everyone they meet

We very much appreciate any time that you spend in prayer for us. We know that “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16b) Thank you all for supporting us. We love you all and look forward to sharing what God is doing in South Africa when Brett gets back at the end of May.

We have also recently created a Facebook page where you’ll be able to get more frequent updates on what is going on during the trip and beyond. Click this link: Stelmaszek Missions and click “Like”, and you’ll be able to receive our updates there.

Hello to all of our friends, family, and missions partners! We have an early, but exciting newsletter to share with you this month.

We asked for your prayers last month as we made decisions as far as Brett traveling short term to Pretoria. He has confirmed travel plans for May 1-21. During his time there he will get to know the people that we will be ministering alongside personally (as opposed to our many Skype chats), get a better idea for how we can be praying for our ministry in Pretoria, and spend some time actually serving at Life Church. Brett will have the added bonus of visiting Life Church Cape Town for a few days. To top it all off, he will be traveling with his friend Ross. Ross comes from a family of faithful disciples that we met during our time in Cape Coral and was discipled by Brett while he was still part of the youth ministry at First Assembly West.

As partners in our ministry, you may be wondering why Brett’s short term travel to South Africa is necessary. We and Fivefold Missions have been prayerfully considering the steps that we should take that will be most effective at getting us to Life Church long term. Now that Judah has been doing better for a couple of months, we feel more confident and have more time to press forward with the additional partner-raising that is needed before we move.

We believe that a short-term trip for Brett will provide greater insight in to the ministry that God has called us to. We will be able to more effectively pray and prepare for our time there, as well as share more concretely with potential partners what exactly we will be doing. We are especially hopeful that, over the next month, God will give more definition to our timeline for moving. We are prepared to follow His lead, whether it means moving very soon or spending more time in the States than we had originally thought. We certainly were not expecting to have to dedicate so much extra time to Judah’s health over this past year, but we are thankful that, as disciples, God works through us for the Kingdom regardless of if we are in our desired place of ministry. We know that we are called to “…be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). To him, all the Earth is the “missions field” and missions is not just about getting to the place where you desire to minister. Rather, the Great Commission is a journey that is meant not only to win lost souls, but also to shape God’s workers in to a finer representation of Jesus, and that is what we have tried to do with our “extra” time in the States.

Please pray with us as we discern what God’s next steps are. Additionally, please stay tuned as we desire to bring you stories and pictures from Brett’s time in South Africa while he is there. We are not sure yet how much time and resources he will have to dedicate to sharing about his adventures, but we do hope to encourage everyone with what God shows Him during his time in Pretoria and Cape Town.

We would love to get some feedback from you – our faithful prayer partners – to help us in our ministry. On the one hand, we want some positive feedback, not only because we need encourage-ment, but also so we can put a few quotes on our website. Here are a few questions to help direct your feedback: “Why do you support the Fandlers?” “How have the Fandlers affected your life through missions?” “What difference do you see them making in South Africa?”

We would also appreciate some constructive criticism. We want to know how we can get better at what we do. Every little suggestion helps!

Our missionaries have planted yet another new house church in poverty-stricken Pretoria West, South Africa. We continue to reach the lost and raise up leaders for the work of the kingdom. The bible says, you will bear fruit that will remain. The great news is, our missionaries plant and oversee these churches while serving our local partner church, Life Church Pretoria. So when the time comes for us to move on, Pastor Liebenberg and the wonderful believers we work with will continue to do the works that we have developed.

This same principle goes for the Life Community Center. We have raised up faithful leaders who carry out the projects to the poor and underprivileged, and they will continue to do so after we leave. Don’t get me wrong, we going anywhere yet! But be assured that your prayers and funds are pouring into a work that will last for generations with our trusted African brethren!

It’s starting to get cold here in South Africa, and we just pulled off another successful clothes drive. Dozens of families were blessed with free clothes. Not only that, but several new families attended our church the next day and we are connecting them with one of our house churches. Because of your giving and prayer, the blind see, the lame walk and the good news is preached to the poor! Keep us in prayer as we are in need of continued finances through this year. May God bless you with favor in your spirit, your family and your funds!

A small update on our family side – Kaylie, now 3, is attending ballet classes, and loving it! David is in the picture here playing cricket at school. He’s doing really well in 1st grade at school. He is 6 now, but is still momma’s baby. Daniel (9) is involved in chess club & soccer, he was the only one in his class to receive the Christlikeness Award, and gets straight A’s in all classes. Thanks to many of you for the sports and extra gifts!

Brothers and sisters: God has been pouring out a hunger for his glory and for the supernatural these last few weeks. And what blessed times in His presence we have had! Several people were baptized in the Spirit. Many have fallen under the power of the Holy Spirit, one lady was healed, and two people already have committed their lives to Jesus. Thank you for you continued prayers!